Name: 美國出了大問題 (Something’s Going Seriously Wrong in United States)
Uploaded: 2025-09-25T18:30:14.000Z
Duration: 18 min 8 s

過去簡單式

情態助動詞 A2

If you would work hard, you can find a stable job that will allow you to buy a house, build a family, and have a decent, calm life.

只要你肯努力，就能找到一份穩定的工作，讓你買房、成家，過上體面平靜的生活。

現在進行式

But if you look around, life is getting harder and harder.

但放眼望去，生活卻越來越艱難。

More and more people are living paycheck to paycheck and the idea of owning a house is becoming unrealistic for more and more people.

越來越多的人靠工資生活，對越來越多的人來說，擁有一棟房子的想法變得不切實際。

Credit card debts and student loans are skyrocketing and are hitting new records every single year.

信用卡債務和學生貸款激增，每年都在刷新紀錄。

On one side, the US economy is hitting a new record every single year.

一方面，美國經濟每年都在刷新紀錄。

On the other side, the number of people who are living paycheck to paycheck is only rising each year.

另一方面，靠工資生活的人數每年都在增加。

It seems like the American economy is broken for the young people.

對年輕人來說，美國經濟似乎已經崩潰。

If you are in your 20s and 30s, most likely you will struggle, and your parents, your father, and your grandfather had it much easier.

如果你是二三十歲的年輕人，你很可能會陷入困境，而你的父母、父親和祖父則要容易得多。

If you look at the numbers, buying a house and building a decent life and having a comfortable life back in the 1960s and 70s was way easier than its today.

從數字上看，在上世紀六七十年代，買房子、過上體面的生活、過上舒適的生活要比現在容易得多。

American government systematically over the last 50 years has been destroying the middle class and probably purposefully has created the biggest wealth inequality humanity has ever seen.

在過去的 50 年裡，美國政府一直在有計劃地摧毀中產階級，而且可能是有目的地製造了人類有史以來最大的財富不平等。

And as I dig deep into this topic, I found out that the situation is way worse than it seems.

當我深入研究這個問題時，我發現情況比想象的要糟糕得多。

I know that at first glance, that seems like a conspiracy theory.

我知道，乍一看，這似乎是一種陰謀論。

If you don't believe me, let me show you. 1940s and 1970s was the golden era in American history where the average income could afford you to pay your basic necessities and also buy a house.

如果你不相信，讓我來告訴你。20 世紀 40 年代至 70 年代是美國曆史上的黃金時代，在這一時期，美國人的平均收入可以支付基本的生活必需品，還可以買房。

The great thing about houses is that for almost all of history, it was the main tool to build wealth.

房屋的偉大之處在於，在幾乎所有歷史時期，它都是創造財富的主要工具。

So if your income allows you to buy a house, you buy your house.

是以，如果你的收入允許你買房，你就買房。

Even if you get a mortgage and house prices are affordable and you can't pay off your mortgage much earlier, as time goes by, even if there is inflation, the value and price of your house keeps rising.

即使您獲得了按揭貸款，房價也在可承受範圍內，您無法更早地還清貸款，但隨著時間的推移，即使出現通貨膨脹，您房子的價值和價格也會不斷上漲。

And if you build your first property, that will make it easier to buy your second property and then the third property and over time you are simply going to get wealthier.

如果你建造了第一處房產，那麼購買第二處房產和第三處房產就會變得更加容易，隨著時間的推移，你會變得越來越富有。

The people who purchased properties back in the 1960s and 70s for 10 to 20 thousand dollars, these properties, the exact same houses today worth 2 to 3 million dollars.

那些在上世紀六七十年代以一、兩萬美元購買房產的人，這些房產如今價值兩、三百萬美元。

But this was only possible because the United States was the main driver engine of the global economy.

但這只是因為美國是全球經濟的主要驅動引擎。

You see, between 1939 and 1970, without the fault of the United States, the United States was in a very unique position.

要知道，在 1939 年至 1970 年期間，在美國沒有任何過錯的情況下，美國處於一個非常獨特的地位。

You can see that exports of the United States has skyrocketed to levels that we haven't actually seen, even though the rest of the world was as advanced as the United States.

你可以看到，儘管世界其他國家和美國一樣先進，但美國的出口量已經飆升到了我們從未見過的水準。

And that's because the rest of the world was going through world war 2 and it was actively destroying itself.

這是因為當時世界其他地區正在經歷第二次世界大戰，正在積極地自我毀滅。

And they needed to finance their wars, they needed to feed their armies, they needed to manufacture equipment and weapons to ensure that they win the war.

他們需要為戰爭提供資金，需要為軍隊提供糧食，需要製造裝備和武器，以確保贏得戰爭。

You have the United States at the center, and then you have all these countries are fighting each other, and all of them buying things from the United States.

以美國為中心，所有這些國家都在互相爭鬥，都在向美國購買東西。

While goods are coming out of the United States, money is coming into the United States.

在商品流出美國的同時，資金也在流入美國。

So it doesn't matter what business you did back in the 1940s and 50s.

是以，你在上世紀四五十年代做什麼生意並不重要。

If the US market is too competitive, just export your product to European Union, to Japan, China, it doesn't matter, you have the entire world as one giant single market.

如果美國市場競爭太激烈，那就把你的產品出口到歐盟、日本、中國，這並不重要，整個世界就是一個巨大的單一市場。

And they are very ready to buy those things from you.

他們非常願意向你購買這些東西。

And back in the days, they paid you in gold and not just pieces of papers.

在過去，他們付給你的是金子，而不僅僅是紙片。

And even when the world was over, most of these countries needed decades to rebuild their economies.

即使世界末日已經過去，這些國家中的大多數也需要幾十年的時間來重建經濟。

France and Germany, the UK was entirely demolished in world war 2.

法國和德國，英國在第二次世界大戰中被徹底摧毀。

China was fighting a war with Japan and then a civil war.

中國當時正在與日本打仗，然後是內戰。

That's why both of these nations were entirely destroyed, even the Soviet Union.

這就是為什麼這兩個國家都被徹底摧毀了，甚至蘇聯也不例外。

So the United States emerged as this single power that supplied the rest of the world with industrial goods as they started to build their economies.

是以，在世界其他國家開始經濟建設的同時，美國成為向其提供工業產品的單一強國。

So if you are in the UK back in 1950s, you need equipment, you need companies, you need technology, and all of that was imported from the United States.

是以，如果你在 20 世紀 50 年代的英國，你需要設備、需要公司、需要技術，而所有這些都是從美國進口的。

And that's why it doesn't matter what business you did back in 1950s and 60s, you could make a lot of money.

這就是為什麼在二十世紀五六十年代，無論你做什麼生意，都能賺大錢。

But the US economy is still growing until today.

但直到今天，美國經濟仍在增長。

So if prices are rising on one side and wages are growing on the other side, we should have the exact same economic model.

是以，如果一邊是物價上漲，另一邊是工資增長，我們就應該有完全相同的經濟模式。

That since then, inflation has been at around 2.5%.

從那時起，通貨膨脹率一直保持在 2.5%左右。

Yes, there has been some spikes back in 1970s and 80s, but nonetheless, it calmed down and the average inflation historically was at about 2.5%.

是的，在 20 世紀 70 年代和 80 年代，通貨膨脹率曾一度飆升，但後來趨於平穩，歷史平均通脹率約為 2.5%。

And if you that to wages, wages have been growing faster than inflation.

For example, back in the 1990s, wages have been growing at about 5.5% when inflation was at about 5%.

例如，在 20 世紀 90 年代，當通貨膨脹率約為 5%時，工資增長率約為 5.5%。

So the average American shouldn't have actually gotten poorer.

是以，普通美國人實際上不應該變得更窮。

But if you look at the numbers, life just got a lot harder and more people are living paycheck to paycheck.

但如果你看一下數字，就會發現生活變得更加艱難，越來越多的人靠工資生活。

Why numbers are showing to us that the average American got wealthier, while in reality, the average American got significantly poorer.

為什麼數字向我們顯示，美國人的平均財富增加了，而實際上，美國人的平均收入卻大大降低了？

That's because the United States pulled one of the biggest scams in the history of humanity.

這是因為美國製造了人類歷史上最大的騙局之一。

You see, back in 1971, the United States entered a new era.

你看，早在 1971 年，美國就進入了一個新時代。

That allowed the government to print money essentially as much as they wanted.

這使得政府可以隨心所欲地印製鈔票。

In fact, they printed more money even before 1971.

事實上，他們甚至在 1971 年之前就印了更多的鈔票。

And that's when they realized that if we do not get out of this gold standard, because we cannot possibly back all of this gold with real money.

那時他們才意識到 如果我們不擺脫金本位制 因為我們不可能用真金白銀來支持這些黃金

So they abolished the gold standard and they started massively printing money.

於是，他們廢除了金本位制，開始大量印鈔。

But if you think about it, it's supposed to create massive inflation.

但仔細想想，這應該會造成大規模通貨膨脹。

But if you look at the numbers, we did not have massive inflation except back in the 1970s.

但如果你看一下數字，除了上世紀 70 年代，我們並沒有出現過大規模的通貨膨脹。

That's not because it did not create massive inflation, that's because we simply changed the way we calculate inflation.

這並不是因為它沒有造成大規模通貨膨脹，而是因為我們只是改變了計算通貨膨脹的方式。

You know, they say that it doesn't matter how you vote, it matters how they count it.

你知道，他們說你如何投票並不重要，重要的是他們如何計票。

It doesn't matter how much the real inflation is, it matters how they count inflation at the end of the day.

實際通脹率是多少並不重要，重要的是他們最後是如何計算通脹率的。

So the first thing they did is they removed housing from inflation.

是以，他們做的第一件事就是將住房從通貨膨脹中剔除。

So if house prices, for example, increased by 10% annually, then that would be part of inflation.

是以，舉例來說，如果房價每年上漲 10%，那麼這就是通貨膨脹的一部分。

Because for the vast majority of people, unless you are super rich, housing makes up a huge portion of your expenses.

因為對於絕大多數人來說，除非你是超級富豪，否則住房在你的開支中佔了很大一部分。

But when you print so much money, a house is an asset.

但是，當你印了這麼多錢時，房子就是一種資產。

So the government is like, let's stop including housing prices into inflation numbers and change it to something like a housing equivalent to owning a house.

是以，政府就想，讓我們停止將房價計入通脹數字，而將其改為相當於擁有一套住房的價格。

Suddenly, inflation numbers started to come down.

突然間，通貨膨脹數字開始下降。

But the second main adjustment that they made was that hedonic adjustment.

但他們所做的第二個主要調整是享樂調整。

So basically, they came up with a very simple argument that if the quality of the product is improving, and the price has increased alongside the quality, then that's not inflation.

是以，基本上，他們提出了一個非常簡單的論點：如果產品的品質在提高，而價格隨著品質的提高而提高，那麼這就不是通貨膨脹。

If we increase the quality of your camera next year, and we increase the price, well, technically, the price of iPhone has increased.

如果明年我們提高了相機的品質，而我們又提高了價格，那麼從技術上講，iPhone 的價格就提高了。

But in the eyes of inflation, it did not because the quality of the camera increased.

但在通貨膨脹看來，這並不是因為相機的品質提高了。

So that increase in price simply reflects a better quality.

是以，價格的上漲只是反映了品質的提高。

For example, if we increase the camera, but the price of iPhone stayed the same, then that's what we call deflation.

例如，如果我們增加了攝像頭，但 iPhone 的價格保持不變，這就是我們所說的通貨緊縮。

So basically, in the eyes of people who calculate and do the math for inflation, since 1970s and 80s, as the quality of technology kept improving, they do not count that as inflation.

是以，從根本上說，在計算和計算通貨膨脹的人眼中，自 20 世紀 70 年代和 80 年代以來，隨著技術品質的不斷提高，他們並不把這算作通貨膨脹。

Yes, every single year, car prices are rising.

是的，汽車價格每年都在上漲。

So if you buy the same Toyota next year, it will cost a little bit more.

是以，如果明年購買同樣的豐田車，價格會稍高一些。

If you buy the same BMW model, it will cost you slightly more.

如果購買相同型號的寶馬車，價格會稍高一些。

But it's not reflected in the inflation numbers because inflation numbers say, the latest BMW has additional features that justify the price, so that's not inflation.

但這並沒有反映在通脹數據中，因為通脹數據顯示，最新款的寶馬車有更多的功能，證明了價格的合理性，所以這不是通脹。

And suddenly, if you look at it from that perspective, we don't have any inflation at all.

突然之間，如果從這個角度來看，我們根本沒有通貨膨脹。

If a hospital, for example, improves the quality of the service and raises their prices, it is not inflation because the simply is providing a better service.

例如，如果一家醫院提高了服務質量並提高了價格，這並不是通貨膨脹，因為它只是提供了更好的服務。

Or if we are improving the quality of a technology, and we are producing it on mass scale, and the price per unit has decreased, then we are going to count that as deflation, and suddenly inflation numbers drop.

或者說，如果我們正在提高一項技術的品質，並進行大規模生產，而組織、部門價格下降了，那麼我們就會把它算作通貨緊縮，通脹數字就會突然下降。

So in reality, when you look around, the cost of living could rise by 10-20%, but then the inflation report it has only increased by 2.5%.

是以，在現實中，當你環顧四周，生活成本可能會上漲 10%-20%，但通脹報告卻只顯示上漲了 2.5%。

So if we actually look at inflation numbers from that perspective, suddenly we realize that the average wage has grown by 3-4% since 1960s and 70s.

是以，如果我們真正從這個角度來看待通脹數字，就會突然發現，自 20 世紀六七十年代以來，平均工資增長了 3-4%。

According to them, inflation has increased by 2-3%.

據他們說，通貨膨脹率上升了 2-3%。

So wages on average has been growing by an extra 1 percentage point, so the average American today should be living and should wealthier than the average American back in 1960s and 70s.

是以，平均工資額外增長了 1 個百分點，所以今天的普通美國人應該比上世紀六七十年代的普通美國人生活得更富裕。

But if you look at the real life, you will find out that the average American today, or more and more people are living paycheck to paycheck than they did back in 1960s and 70s.

但是，如果你看看現實生活，你就會發現，今天的普通美國人，或者說越來越多的人比上世紀六七十年代的人還要靠工資生活。

And that's because the real inflation, if we count it the way it is, by including, for example, house prices and also not making the hedonic adjustments, then the real inflation is anything between 7-10%.

這是因為，如果我們按照實際通貨膨脹率來計算，例如將房價包括在內，並且不進行保值調整，那麼實際通貨膨脹率在 7%-10%之間。

And according to some experts, it might be even higher than 10%.

而據一些專家稱，這一比例甚至可能高於 10%。

And now look at the situation from this perspective.

現在就從這個角度來看看情況。

Over the last 60 years, wages have been growing by 3-4%, but the real inflation has been growing by 7-10%.

在過去的 60 年裡，工資增長了 3-4%，但實際通脹率卻增長了 7-10%。

A single year won't make a huge difference, but over the course of 50 years, each year compounds, and that's why life became so difficult and basically the idea of even owning a house became unrealistic and is becoming unrealistic for more and more people.

一年的差別不會很大，但在 50 年的時間裡，每一年的差別都在增大，這就是為什麼生活變得如此艱難，基本上連擁有一棟房子的想法都變得不切實際，而且對越來越多的人來說也變得不切實際。

Personal income back in 1981 was adjusted to inflation, after counting inflation, was a little over 26K.

1981 年的個人收入根據通脹率進行了調整，算上通脹率後略高於 2.6 萬。

Fast forward to 2024, that number has grown to 45K.

時間快進到 2024 年，這個數字已經增長到 4.5 萬。

And looking at this number alone, you can make a claim that the average American today a far wealthier life than the average American back in 1981.

僅從這個數字來看，你就可以說，今天的普通美國人的生活遠比 1981 年的普通美國人富裕。

字幕列表影片播放

美國出了大問題 (Something’s Going Seriously Wrong in United States)

perspective

massive

decent

opportunity